The present invention relates to floor elements which are joined by means of tongue, groove and separate guiding means.
Prefabricated board shaped floor elements which are provided with tongue and groove at the edges are common nowadays. They are very easy to install whereby this can be accomplished by the average handy man. Such floor elements can, for example, be made of solid wood, fibre board or particle board. These are most often provided with a surface layer such as a lacquer or some type of laminate. The boards are most often installed by being glued together via tongue and groove. This type of floor is usually installed so that the boards overlap and the latitudinal joint do not coincide. It has therefore not been any reason to guide the relative longitudinal position between the boards. Designed installations is very difficult to achieve without this possibility. One example where it should be desirable to have coinciding latitudinal as well as longitudinal joint is completely quadratic floor elements. This is very difficult as scales or a very sure eye and great workman skills is required if a successful end result is to be achieved. It is furthermore very easy to dislodge already installed floor elements when installing new ones. It is also sometimes desired to have latitudinal joints coincide over, for example, every other or every third latitudinal joint, when installing with overlap.
This requirement is foremost present when floor boards with dissimilar decor is used for creating a decorative effect on larger floor surfaces. This requirement goes for quadratic as well as rectangular floor elements.
It has, through the present invention, been made possible to solve the above mentioned problems, whereby a designed floor installation, even with complex patterns, easily can be installed with great accuracy, even by the average handyman. Thus, the invention relates to floor elements which are mainly in the form of boards with triangular, quadratic, rectangular, rhomboidal or polygonal shape as seen from above. The floor elements are provided with edges, a lower side and a decorative upper layer. The floor elements are intended to be joined by means of tongue and groove. The invention is characterised in that the floor elements are provided with holes in at least two opposite edges, preferably all four edges, which holes extends inwards from the edge mainly parallel with the upper layer. The holes arc arranged at a predetermined distance from the upper decorative layer and at a predetermined distance from the closest edge between two adjacent edges. The holes are intended to receive one part of a guiding means each.
The holes preferably extends perpendicular to the edge where the holes are arranged. Alternatively, the holes extends parallel to the edge which is adjacent to the edge where the holes are arranged. In cases where the corners of the floor boards are right-angled the holes preferably extends perpendicular to the edge where they are arranged and parallel to the edge which is adjacent to the edge where they are arranged.
According to one embodiment of the invention the floor element has four edges with the same length. Each edge is suitably provided with each one hole group of two holes. The holes have, in each hole group, been arranged on a mutual distance of N from each other and that the distance between a hole and its closest edge is N/2, whereby the length of the edge is 2N.
According to a second embodiment of the invention the floor element has two opposite edges with larger length than the two remaining edges. The two shorter edges are suitably provided with each one hole group of two holes. The holes have, in each hole group, been arranged on a mutual distance of N from each other and that the distance between a hole and its closest edge is N/2, whereby the length of the edge is 2N. The two long side edges are provided with each one, hole group of three or more holes of which the outermost are arranged on a distance of L/2from the closest edge while the distance between two adjacent holes arranged on the long sides is L, whereby the length of the long side edge is an integer larger than 3L, preferably smaller than 30L.
The two long side edges are alternatively provided with each one hole group of three or more holes, of which the outermost holes are arranged on a distance of L/2from the respective closest corner between two adjacent edges. The distance between two adjacent holes arranged on the long side edge is L, 2L, 3L, 4L, 5L or combinations thereof. The length L is in both cases suitably equal to the length N.
The holes are suitably provided with an inner, gripping edge. The holes are thereby suitably provided with an inner gripping edge by milling a groove from the lower side. This groove is then suitably perpendicular to the hole and thereby parallel to the edge where the hole, which is intersected by the groove, is arranged. The hole may alternatively be provided with an inner gripping edge by milling a step with larger diameter than the hole, on a predetermined depth.
The guiding means are then suitably provided with each two ends which each are provided with one or more resilient projections. These projections are intended to interact with the gripping edges of the holes.